Ed Cassiere 06/07/10
NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Danielle Jones is a first-team Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar in women's basketball for the second consecutive year.The Ashe awards, sponsored by the magazine Diverse Issues in Higher Education, are given to student-athletes of color who have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.2 or higher on a 4.0 scale through the fall 2009 semester. The student-athletes must have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution, must be an active member of an intercollegiate team during the 2009-10 academic year, and must have a record of service to the campus or community.
Jones, a junior from Baton Rouge, La., and a graduate of Episcopal High School, is a biology/pre-medical major with a 3.85 GPA through three years at Xavier. She averaged 4.8 points and 4.2 rebounds this past season for the Gold Nuggets, who were 28-6, won the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament championships and qualified for the NAIA Division I National Championship.
Jones is the only representative of a Louisiana college on this year's Ashe team, which consists of athletes from 14 women's and 12 men's sports. Xavier is one of six HBCUs (historically black college or university) and one of five NAIA members to be represented.
Jones is one of five XU student-athletes, all female, to make the Ashe first team twice and the first to do it since Alexandra Broussard in tennis in 2007-08 and 2008-09.
The 2009-10 season was Jones' third and final one on the women's basketball team. She has opted to compete this fall for the Xavier women's volleyball team, which is returning to intercollegiate competition after a five-year hiatus.